1. Field
In the field of plumbing or pipe fitting it is common practice to abrade away oxidation, scale, and the like from the surfaces of copper or bronze tubing prior to soldering the tubing to various items such as T's, elbows, unions, or the like. If the tube surface is not properly cleaned, the solder which is to be “sweated” onto the tube and item will not form a watertight or gastight seal between the tube and item, and, in fact, will not form a joint at all in certain situations.
2. Prior Art
Heretofore many tube cleaning tools have been proposed including those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,568,376; 6,106,370; 6,393,645 B1; 5,168,660; 5,058,327; and 5,146,717. Such tools have utility for many tube cleaning applications, particularly where the tube is fully accessible for cleaning and rotation of the cleaning mechanism, however, they do not function effectively in certain situations such as where a tube end is located in fairly tight quarters where it is difficult to position the tool around the tube end and then rotate the tool while maintaining a proper axial alignment of the tool and tube for uniform cleaning of the tube end.